October 19, 2013
Women are much less likely to have cell phones and India wants to fix that
The Indian government is preparing an initiative that would give a mobile handset to millions of rural households. The program, which has been under discussion since last year, is gaining speed ahead of parliamentary elections next year, according to the Hindu today, reports QZ.
The scheme is interesting not just for its scale—it aims to connect some 25 million rural families with cell phones that can access the internet—but its focus. Handsets will be given to the woman of the household, specifically low-income women that have been part of the government’s employment guarantee program.
The scheme gives residents a phone for a one-time fee of Rs 30 (about $0.50) and will provide a recharge every month for two years, according to the Hindu. (The packages are pretty modest: users get 30 minutes of call time, 30 text messages, and 30 MB of data a month, according to the paper.)
The idea behind the program—aside from earning political points before the election—is “bridging the mobile gender gap.” The goal is to help more women get connected to the outside world, which not only makes them feel safer and more independent but improves their productivity and in some cases their income.
Read more.
Britain sends SMS warning to illegals
Britain has sent text messages to almost 40 000 illegal immigrants warning them they have no right to remain, officials said on Friday - and admitted that a handful of legal residents were caught up in the campaign. IOL News reports.
A spokesman said the texts had been sent to 39 100 people between September 2012 and June 2013.
Similar messages were also sent out via email and by post as part of a “proactive” effort to contact individuals who had no right to be in Britain, he said.
Read full article.
October 17, 2013
Smartphones users will spend over $15 billion on apps this year
Globally smartphone and tablet mobile app expenditure will reach $15.5 billion by the close of this year, which equates to more than the figures for 2010, 2011 and 2012 combined, reports Trusted Review.
Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store account for 85 per cent of this expenditure as they are the leading providers across the world.
The majority of the revenue is accrued by game app and related in-app purchases. Candy Crush, Hay Day and Clash of Clans are at the top of the most downloaded list.
More than 80 per cent of all app revenue comes from in-app purchases rather than paid downloads. Due to this, the free-to-download and in-app purchase business model is the predominant choice for developers.
Read full article.
Children's exposure to cell phones should be limited
As cell phone radiation lawsuits continue to move forward in courts in the US, New York-based law firm Bernstein Liebhard notes a French safety watchdog has issued new recommendations regarding the use of cell phones by children. Digital Journal reports.
The recommendation was made in a report prepared by 16 experts who looked at more than 300 scientific studies that have been published since 2009. According to the panel, some of the studies suggested that heavy cell phone users faced an increased risk of brain cancer, The Telegraph said.
“In light of the growing body of evidence that points to an increased risk of brain tumors from cell phones, regulatory agencies and consumer groups in the United States are also reviewing cell phone radiation standards,the recommendations from Anses make a great deal of sense,” says Bernstein Liebhard, a nationwide law firm representing the victims of defective drugs, medical devices, and consumer products. The Firm is part of a small consortium of law firms actively representing plaintiffs in cell phone radiation lawsuits. (Case No. 0008533-12, Superior Court, District of Columbia)
According to The Telegraph, Anses last reviewed its cell phone radiation recommendations in 2009 and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in 1996.
Read full article.
Links to related articles and studies on cell phone radiation blogged by textually over the years.
>>> Register a free account
October 16, 2013
Shooting Off Those Last Few Texts In Bed Is Ruining Your Sleep
A new study (aren’t they all?) reveals that those spate of pre-slumber text messages are leading to a poor night’s sleep. BetaBeat reports.
According to Today, the authors noted the problem was after they sent their texts, their needy friends would text them back. As a result the phone buzzing or beeping ruins the person’s REM cycle and knocks them from a healthy sleep pattern. Even worse, the students feel pressured to respond to said text, no matter how late (or early) it is.
Read full article.
Mobile Phones On the Rise in Africa, Internet Use Inching Up
Seven in ten Africans own their own mobile phones, with access essentially universal in Algeria and Senegal, according to Afrobarometer findings from across 34 countries, reports AllAfrica.
Key Findings
-- 72% of respondents report owning their own phone, and another 9% report access to a mobile phone in their household; only about 16% of the population reports never using a mobile phone.
-- Access to mobile phones is essentially universal in Algeria and Senegal (98% each), followed by South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya (93% each).
-- Fourteen countries report access rates above 90%. In sharp contrast, Madagascar (44%) and Burundi (49%) both fall below 50%.
-- Frequency of use has also increased: 44% in 16 countries reported daily use in 2008, compared to 65% in those same countries in Round 5.
-- Fifty-nine percent of respondents report using mobile phones to send or receive text messages, and 16% use them to send or receive money or pay bills.
Read more.
October 15, 2013
South Korea is the Home of Phablets
Mobile app analytics firm Flurry has just released a deep dive report on the Korean mobile market, and it makes for fascinating reading. [via TheNextWeb]
First, it is the first connected device market in the world to approach saturation. Second, it is Samsung’s home market, and largely as a consequence of that, more of the devices in use there are manufactured by domestic firms than is the case for any other country. Finally, it is home to more phablet fans than anywhere else.
According to Flurry analytics — 41 percent of smartphones and tablets in Korea are phablets, i.e. smartphones that are between 5 and 7-inches in length. That’s compared to a global average of just 7 percent.
Read full study.
October 11, 2013
Witnesses to a murder on San Francisco's Muni were too absorbed in their phones to interfere
Late last month, a thirty-year-old man walked onto a light rail car in San Francisco and shot a twenty-year-old student in the back of the head. [via Motherboard]
Video of the incident reportedly shows passengers on the Muni vehicle totally absorbed in their cell phones, oblivious to the gunman brandishing his weapon and ignorant of the murder about to take place.
Is this yet another sign that we are far too consumed with our technological innovations to the detriment of all else? Even though society’s smartphone infatuation is certainly problematic, the answer is probably no.
... A city, and especially that city’s public transportation systems, can be overwhelming. It’s a normal human impulse to want to create one’s own space, to stay within the bounds of our own minds instead of dealing with the noise, the smells, the unwanted attention that surrounds us. Messing around with a cell phone is just one of many ways we create that space. Cell phones are a tool, not the cause, of our desire to be left alone.
Read more.
Phone-compatible ATMs let you use an app instead of a card
New ATMs are coming that will let customers withdraw cash with a smartphone app, no debit card needed. Withdrawing cash with a phone takes less than nine seconds, compared to 30 or 40 seconds with a card, CNNMoney reports via Salon.com.
App users put in their withdrawal requests up to 24 hours before they get to the ATM — CNNMoney suggests doing it while waiting in line for a machine — and then scan a QR code on the machine’s screen to get it to spit out cash.
Read full article.
October 10, 2013
Firms spent $3 billion on mobile ads in the US in the first half of 2013
More companies are spending more money to get your attention as you stare down at your mobile device through the day. arstechnica reports.
Other new figures show that Internet ad revenue is soaring, reaching $20.1 billion in the same time period. That's a bump of 18 percent over the first half of 2012.
Read more.
October 9, 2013
Stylish Bags That Charge Your Dead iPhone Battery
Here's an idea for a Xmas gift, a bag that recharges your iPhone's dead battery. [via FastCompany]
Everpurse collaborated with high-end Chicago fashion designers 1154 Lill St. and Laudi Vidni to make stylish leather clutches, available in crocodile skin patterns, and fabric models in five colors.
Everpurse in 9 seconds from Everpurse on Vimeo.
Previously: - Kickstarter project Everpurse for charging your cell phone on the go
October 7, 2013
India’s audacious plan to bring mobile payments to the masses: pair them with a national ID card
For three years now India has been rolling out a biometric national ID card called Aadhar, or “foundation”. It is an apt name. The plan is to issue one of these to every man, woman and child living in India, with the stated aim not of surveilling them (the cards are not mandatory) but for the purposes of improving record-keeping, decreasing corruption and ensuring that all Indians have access to government services. Quartz reports.
Despite the criticism, Aadhar has formed a solid base. Some 440 million cards have already been issued—just over a third of Indians now have one.
Now the government is expanding its ambitions. Nandan Nilekani, a founder of Infosys and the man in charge of the Aadhar scheme, suggested last week that the platform the cards run on will be extended to include peer-to-peer money transfers. (If you’re in the US, imagine using your social security number to pay for a cup of coffee.)
Read full article.
"The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator" a Kickstarter project
Help fund Kickstarter book project by everyone's favorite Ken Banks of kiwanja.net.
Titled "The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator", the book features the likes of Medic Mobile, WE CARE Solar, Ushahidi, PlanetRead and DataDyne - with a Foreword from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator" highlights the personal stories of ten social innovators from around the world. Ten social innovators - ordinary people - who randomly stumbled across problems, injustices and wrongs and, armed with little more than determination and belief, decided not to turn their backs but to dedicate their lives to solving them.
Why do we need this book?
Despite the tens of billions spent each year in international aid, some of the most promising and exciting social innovations and businesses have come about by chance. Many of the people behind them didn't consciously set out to solve anything, but they did. Welcome to the world of the "reluctant innovator".
With 3 days left to back this project, with £3,811 raised, they are so close to reaching their goal of £ 4'000. Thanks for backing this project.
Life of a mobile phone in india
The average life of a mobile device in India is eight years, perhaps the longest compared with anywhere in the world. Live Mint & The Wall Street Journal report.
A study of mobiles in India by Ann Stevens of OCAD University, Canada, attempts to address the following issues. Is the longer-than-world average lifespan of the Indian mobile phone a sign of a healthy and robust economy and society? How does the long lifespan manifest itself in Indian society? Can constructive re-use extend the life of mobile phones before they reach industrial recyclers? The study combines primary, secondary and field research in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
Read full article.
| Tweet |
October 4, 2013
A Charger Powers Your Smartphone, Sniffs for Malware
A mobile security startup is attempting to sell a charger that can scan your smartphone for malware—and repair it, if necessary—while powering it up. MIT Technology Review reports.
The Skorpion charger can be made to work with any smartphone operating system.
For the user, the charger is simple: plug it into the wall, and plug the phone into the charger. The charger then conducts a quick preliminary scan of the phone; if all is in order, it shows a green light.
If you leave the phone plugged into the charger, it will reboot at a time you’ve preconfigured—3 a.m., for instance—and start a more thorough process that sends the phone’s operating-system files to the charger for an analysis that takes about four minutes.
Read full article.
October 3, 2013
Children switch from mobile phones to tablets
The number of children owning mobile phones has fallen for the first time, according to figures from the regulator, Ofcom. The BBC reports.
Ofcom said that tablets have become "a must have device" for children of all ages.
26% of children between the ages of twelve and fifteen now own a tablet, up from just 7% in 2012.
The statistics also suggest that the next generation is getting tech savvy not long after getting out of nappies: 28% of infants between the ages of three and four now use a tablet computer at home.
Read full article.
Study: Texting-While-Slouching Is Causing an ‘iPosture’ Epidemic
According to a survey of 3,000 adults by SimplyHealth, a major UK health cash plan provider, 84 percent of 18-24 year olds claim to have suffered from some kind of back pain in the last year. This “iPosture” generation of young adults has lost an average of 1.5 days of work due to back problems compared to people of their parents’ generation.
[via TIME]
October 1, 2013
The Surprising Link Between "American Idol" And Text-To-Donate Fundraising
As Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast in 2005, AT&T; engineer Marian Croak found inspiration for what turned out to be a very good idea from a very unlikely source. FastCompany reports.
Now, Croak thought a similar system could be used to accept donations by text message.
“I know those sound like very different situations, but you can use the same implementation for both of those,” she says. Instead of conveying votes made by text message to an operator, in other words, AT&T; could pass on donations made by text message to a charity. Customers would see the donation as a charge on their phone bills.
AT&T; filed a patent for the idea on behalf of Croak and her coinventor, Hossein Eslambolchi, in October 2005, a couple months after Hurricane Katrina. Text donations didn’t make headlines until many years later, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, when the relief organizations collected more than $30 million in donations by text message—sent $10 at a time by texting the word “Haiti” to a specified number. Though there hasn't yet been another round of text-message fundraising that can match the Haiti campaign, text messages have established themselves as a conduit for impulse disaster-relief donations.
Read full article.
Scientists use lightning bolt to charge mobile phone
Some 200 years after Mary Shelley used lightning to breath life into Frankenstein's monster, scientists have copied her idea to power a phone. The BB reports.
The mobile firm warned users "not to try this at home".
Harnessing nature in this way could provide power sources where electricity is in short supply, said experts.
Read more.
Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?
Phantom vibration — that phenomenon where you think your phone is vibrating but it's not — has been around only since the mobile age. And five years ago, when its wider existence became recognized, news organizations, including ours, covered the "syndrome" as a sign of the digital encroachment in our lives. Today, it's so common that researchers have devoted studies to it. NPR reports.
Nearly 90 percent of college undergrads in a 2012 study said they felt phantom vibrations. The number was just as high for a survey of hospital workers, who reported feeling phantom vibrations on either a weekly or monthly basis.
"Something in your brain is being triggered that's different than what was triggered just a few short years ago," says Dr. Larry Rosen, a research psychologist who studies how technology affects our minds.
Read more.
Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?
Phantom vibration — that phenomenon where you think your phone is vibrating but it's not — has been around only since the mobile age. And five years ago, when its wider existence became recognized, news organizations, including ours, covered the "syndrome" as a sign of the digital encroachment in our lives. Today, it's so common that researchers have devoted studies to it. NPR reports.
Nearly 90 percent of college undergrads in a 2012 study said they felt phantom vibrations. The number was just as high for a survey of hospital workers, who reported feeling phantom vibrations on either a weekly or monthly basis.
"Something in your brain is being triggered that's different than what was triggered just a few short years ago," says Dr. Larry Rosen, a research psychologist who studies how technology affects our minds.
Read more.
September 30, 2013
Scientists want to turn smartphones into earthquake sensors
For years, scientists have struggled to collect accurate real-time data on earthquakes, but a new article published today in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (SSA) may have found a better tool for the job, using the same accelerometers found in most modern smartphones. [via TheVerge]
Read full article.
Samsung’s ChatON messaging service passes 100 million registered users
Samsung has today announced that ChatON, its cross-platform mobile messaging service, has passed 100 million registered users. The company claims it has added 50 million new sign-ups over the last four months. TheNextWeb reports.
How does that compare to the competition?
WhatsApp leads the industry with 300 million monthly active users (its registered user base is unknown but likely much higher), but ChatON is ahead of BlackBerry’s BBM (60 million), Kik (80 million) and others. However, Asian rivals WeChat, Line and Kakao Talk are larger in size, based on user numbers.
ChatON is available in 237 different countries and in 63 languages. Samsung says that, in particular, it has charted “steady growth” in India, China, and the United States, while it is growing in Europe and the Middle East too.
Read more.
September 29, 2013
EU Committee Votes to Make All Smartphone Vendors Utilize a Standard Charger
On Thursday, the EU's internal market and consumer protection committee voted on forcing smartphone vendors to adopt a standard charger, which common sense would imply means micro USB, given it's already featured on the majority of smartphones out there. The major exception is Apple, which deploys a Lightning connector with its latest iPhones.
[hothardware via slashdot]
SatSleeve turns iPhone into satellite phone
A new device that turns iPhones into satellite phones promises to cut the cost and hassle of satellite phone calls for business customers with workers in remote locations. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The SatSleeve attaches to the iPhone 4 or 4s. A free app uses the phone's contacts and the sleeve's SIM card to make calls and send text messages. Optus says the sleeve extends the battery life of the iPhone.
Optus expects business customers across mining, gas, agriculture, government, emergency services and rural services would be interested in the lower-priced alternative for their fly-in-fly-out and remote workforce. Satellite phones usually cost more than $1000 each, while the sleeve costs about $690.
Read full article.
September 27, 2013
Protesters Are Dodging Sudan's Internet Shutdown with a Phone-Powered Crowdmap
Since Wednesday afternoon, Sudan's internet has been sporadically shut off amid a fifth day of protests against President Omar al Bashir’s regime. Despite the attempt to cut off communications and limit organization and reporting on the ground, a group of tech-savvy people based in Khartoum have developed a map for recording key data about the protests that's powered by cell networks. Motherboard.vice reports.
SMS messages are connected automatically with the Ushahidi-based crowdmapping platform, Saleh told me. Activists, some in-country (who work when possible) and the rest outside, login and check the messages. They are then doubled checked with news sources and social media before being finally confirmed and mapped. The crew has also been manually updating the platform.
Read more.
September 25, 2013
Throw your phone as high as you can. A sport game for smartphones
Guerrilla-Innovation reports on a new a sport Android app game for smartphones called S.M.T.H. (Send Me To Heaven).
The goal is to throw your phone (or tablet) as high as you can, then catch it. The phone registers the height and uploads result to leader boards. World Top 10, Week Top 10, Day Top 10, Local Top 10 (national) and Facebook Friends lists are available.
Apple has banned the app, but it is available on Android.
Very unlike the Mobile phone Throwing World Championships (a yearly event since 2000), which has some purpose as a sponsored event with a recycling philosophy.
FDA issues final guidance on mobile medical apps
In an important move, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has released final guidance to mobile application developers that are creating medical applications to run on mobile devices. Some applications, it said, will be treated with the same scrutiny as traditional medical devices. [via Slashdot]
Mobile medical apps currently on the market can, for example, diagnose abnormal heart rhythms, transform smart phones into a mobile ultrasound device, or function as the “central command” for a glucose meter used by a person with insulin-dependent diabetes.
“Some mobile apps carry minimal risks to consumer or patients, but others can carry significant risks if they do not operate correctly. The FDA’s tailored policy protects patients while encouraging innovation,” said Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The FDA is focusing its oversight on mobile medical apps that:
-- are intended to be used as an accessory to a regulated medical device – for example, an application that allows a health care professional to make a specific diagnosis by viewing a medical image from a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) on a smartphone or a mobile tablet; or
-- transform a mobile platform into a regulated medical device – for example, an application that turns a smartphone into an electrocardiography (ECG) machine to detect abnormal heart rhythms or determine if a patient is experiencing a heart attack.
Mobile medical apps that undergo FDA review will be assessed using the same regulatory standards and risk-based approach that the agency applies to other medical devices.
The agency does not regulate the sale or general consumer use of smartphones or tablets nor does it regulate mobile app distributors such as the ‘iTunes App store” or the “Google Play store.
Read full press FDA release.
New York to create 91 roadside 'Text Stops' in hopes to stop distracted driving
Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced dozens of "texting zones" along New York's major roadways to remind drivers to pull over before answering texts or emails on their smart phones. Syracus.com reports.
The zones are the latest effort by Cuomo to combat distracted driving. Since he took office in 2011, new laws make it possible for law enforcement to target motorists primarily for using their smart phones will driving. Other changes include stiffer penalties for young or new drivers caught texting while driving.
[via arstechnica]
September 23, 2013
Ikea's 3D furniture app: first look
Maria Fitzpatrick for The Telegraph, reviews IKEA's new free app available in the AppStore, which uses augmented reality to allow you to place 3D virtual images of furniture in your own home.
It is by no means the first of its kind: other high-end AR shopping apps include Decolabs, which allows you to design and walk around your 'new room', and Sayduck, with which you can place furniture from a range of brands in your space and share the images on social networks. But, according to James Dearsley, the fact that it's now coming from a household name like Ikea means the technology is going mainstream, and everyone's going to be using it.
Read full article. Watch video demo (amazing)
How Smartphones Became Vital Tools Against Dengue In Pakistan
Two years ago, an estimated 20,000 people in and around the city of Lahore contracted the deadly tropical disease. This year, the region has recorded just a few dozen cases of dengue fever, which usually involves a high fever, horrible headache, and severe bone and joint pain. NPR reports.
"We pull up the trash, put it in the basket, tie up the bag and take it away," says sanitation worker Tanvir Channa. He says that he doesn't often think about his role in combating a deadly epidemic. "Whatever I do, it's just to provide for my kids," the thin 30-year-old says.
To make sure workers like Channa don't skip out on their tasks and allow the dengue mosquitoes to breed, they're followed by an investigator who uses a smartphone to their progress. In this case, it's a tall man in plaid shirt named Mohammad Saleem Taqi.
"I open this application, called Clean Lahore, to enter a field activity," he says. "I take pictures before and after the work is done, enable location services to map this spot, and then send it on to my supervisors."
"Of course it seemed strange at first," Channa says, of having his picture taken on the job. But now he believes the monitoring campaign is to his benefit because the photos show supervisors that he's on the job and can't be marked absent.
Across town from the sewer, men with the fishery department tip a bucket of water into a small neighborhood pond. Dozens of tiny tilapia fish swim into the pond. These fish have a taste for mosquito larvae and naturally curb the mosquito population.
As the two men work, an inspector snaps a photo of them with the Clean Lahore app.
The app is the brainchild of Umar Saif, a Cambridge-educated computer scientist, who now manages part of the anti-dengue campaign.
Read full article.
